Vegetable orienting and trimming machine



July 5, 1955 w BRlDGE 2,712,334

VEGETABLE ORIENTING AND TRIMMING MACHINE Filed Jan. 11, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Fig. 1.

ATTO R N EY y 5, 1955 E. w. BRIDGE VEGETABLE ORIENTING AND TRIMMING MACHINE 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Jan. 11, 1950 ATTO R N EY 2,712,334 VEGETABLE ORIENTING AND TRIMMJNG MACHINE Edward W. Bridge, Philadelphia, Pa.

1950, Serial No. 138,048 3 Claims. (Cl. 146-81) Application January 11,

The present invention relates to a machine for trimming vegetables.

The present invention constitutes an improvement as regards certain parts of the vegetable trimming machine disclosed in prior Patent 2,491,950, of December 20, 1949 One of the objects of the vide Another object is to provide a vegetable trimming machine having vegetable receiving pockets formed of a pair of coacting members so arranged that the pockets are continuously held in open position for receiving the vegetables.

Another object is to provide a vegetable trimming machine having vegetable receiving pockets with means Fig. l is a detail top plan view of so much of the machine of my patent aforesaid as is necessary to illustrate the present invention.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the same.

Fig. 3 is a detail inverted plan view of one of the pocket links with some of my improvements included, the link parts being closed.

Fig. 4 is a top plan view of the same.

Fig. 5 is an enlarged cross section on the line 55 of Fig. 4.

In the reference The endless chain is composed of pocket links and connecting or intermediate links.

the pins 31 tend to separate the sections 28, 30 to their open position.

The pocket links have raised ends 29 which ride tracks 3. The connecting links 44 also have raised ends 45. The raised ends 29 have lugs 37, 38, while the raised ends 45 have lugs 46, 47.

61 are posts which carry a bridge in which is a pivot pin 62" that also passes through a lug 63 on a cutter-carrying bar 67. The bar 67 has an upturned end 67 that is secured at 101 to a bearing 100 for a cutter-carrying shaft 102. Collars 103 hold the shaft 102 in place. A bevel-edge cutter disc 104 has a screw 105 tapped into the lower end of the shaft 102.

A flexible drive shaft 107 in a flexible casing 106 is coupled as at 103 to shaft 102. The disc 104 has spannerwrench holes 109 for the usual purpose.

Leaves or plates 110 of a pair of hinges are secured,

61 having lugs 61 at 125, to the bridge 61%. the other leaves 112 being hinged at 111 to the plates 1'10 and lying below the bridge Cam shoes 113 are riveted at 114v to the leaves 112 and have weighted ends 115 for a purpose presently to appear.

Adjustably secured to each pocket link 28 by screws 123 are plates 116 having hinge lugs 117 carrying pivot pins 119 on which pin levers 118 are pivoted. The levers have fingers 120 which engage the sides of the trimmed by the rotating knife or cutter-disc 104.

In order to position the knife 104 at the required heights for trimming, I provide an adjustable stop screw 124 in the bridge 61 to engage the arm 67 as best shown in Fig. 2.

The-machine of my patent above mentioned performs accurately, but in the production over and above hand operation it does not warrant the food packer to pay the purchase price of the machine. Fifty pockets per minute as the machine runs is suflicient production, provided the operator could fill the pockets with vegetables.

After making exhaustive tests, both in the plant and out in the field, applicant finds that the difiiculty lies in the operators trying to force the pocket open while he is trying to push the vegetable to machine.

Applicant found that if the pockets were open, the operator could feed the machine and keep all the pockets filled without too much eiiort in doing so. Applicant has therefore made the necessary changes, placing springs in between the two parts of the pocket. This holds the pocket open to its full diameter at all times. The vegetable is placed in the open pocket, the same as originally, with the stem end through the hole in the bottom and the pocket closed against the sides of the vegetable to hold it while trimming, without the aid of springs on the out side, as in the original patent. The clamping action takes place by having the small clamping levers, with the small come in contact with the two weighted hinged cam shoes. As the pockets travel under the weighted cam shoes the small cam rollers push the levers down, forcing the ends the adjustable half of the pocket and forcing this half of the pocket tight against the vegetable. The pocket continues to travel under the cam shoe holding the pocket closed until the vegetable has travelled far enough for This permits the vegetable to be trimmed before the two weighted cam shoes have been disturbed.

Applicants reason for having two independent hinged cam shoes with weights made of heavy material such as inches. The weighted cam shoes apply weight on the small cam levers pushing against the vegetable and holds it clamped with the same pounds pressure. This takes care of any fractional dimension of the diameter of the vegetable, according to the size of the vegetable being the bottom of the pocket.

trimmed. Another reason for using the two cam shoes in place of one large weighted cam shoe is that the two individual cam shoes will permit either side the freedom of use in the event that one side of the pocket might close a little late (which would not allow the small lever on the opposite side to close the same distance) and still act independently to raise the weighted cam shoe on that side to allow freedom on the forward motion of the pocket while it is travelling forward.

From the foregoing description, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, it is thought that the construction, operation and advantages of the present invention will be clear to those skilled in the art to which it relates.

What I claim is:

1. In a vegetable trimming machine embodying a conveyor chain composed of pocket and connecting links and a cutting mechanism, each of said pocket links consisting of a fixed part and a movable part slidably carried by the fixed part, the improvement which includes springs positioned between and engaging said fixed and movable parts and continuously tending to separate said parts to receive a vegetable to be trimmed, plates secured to said fixed part, levers pivotally mounted on said plates and arranged to engage the movable part for compressing said spring and urging said movable part towards said fixed part, rollers mounted on said levers, a support positioned above said conveyor chain, a pair of hinges having an end secured to said support in spaced relation, a pair of cam shoes secured to the free ends of said hinges, said cam shoes having weighted ends engageable with said rollers as the pocket links approach the cutting mechanism for applying pressure to the movable part of each pocket link during the period that said rollers are in engagement with said weighted ends.

2. In a vegetable trimming machine, a conveyor composed of pocket and connecting links, each of said pocket links consisting of a fixed part and a movable part with the movable part having spaced apertures formed therein, guide pins carried by said fixed part and projecting through said spaced apertures for slidably mounting the movable part on said fixed part, springs mounted on said pins and engaging said fixed and movable parts and continuously tending to separate said parts to receive a vegetable to be trimmed, means carried by said fixed part and engageable with said movable part for compressing said springs and urging said movable part toward said fixed part to clamp a vegetable therebetween, cam shoes pivotally mounted on said machine for engaging said means to apply pressure to said movable part.

3. In a vegetable trimming machine, a conveyor composed of pocket and connecting links, each of said pocket links consisting of a fixed part and a movable part with the movable part having spaced apertures formed therein, guide pins carried by said fixed part and projecting through said spaced apertures for slidably mounting the movable part on said fixed part, springs mounted on said pins and engaging said fixed and movable parts and continuously tending to separate said parts to receive a vegetable to be trimmed, levers pivotally mounted on said first part and arranged to engage said movable part for compressing said springs and urging said movable part toward said fixed part, and cam shoes pivotally mounted on said machine engageable with said levers for applying pressure to said movable part.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

